CryptoSlate
Publicly traded Bitcoin miners have signed more than $100 billion in AI and HPC contracts, yet only about $1.1 billion of that is generating annualized revenue today. CoinShares tracks over 4 gigawatts of contracted AI capacity across the sector, of which roughly 550 megawatts is currently billing. Despite the gap, ten of the 12 miners it follows gained between 70% and 195% in the second quarter.
Why it matters
The premium reflects a scarce input rather than booked earnings: grid-connected power. CoinShares logged at least 225 moratoriums or restrictions on data-center development across 30 US states, 151 of them still active, while new projects face an interconnection queue of roughly 2,600 gigawatts and a median wait above five years. A recent Northern Virginia transaction valued fully leased AI data centers at about $27 million per megawatt, while some miners with energized but unleased capacity trade below $3 million per megawatt.
The economics still work despite retrofit costs of $8 million to $15 million per megawatt, far above the $700,000 to $1 million Bitcoin mining infrastructure requires. AI infrastructure is generating an estimated $1.5 million in annualized profit per megawatt, roughly triple what Bitcoin mining yields under current conditions.
Market impact
Operators are paying to leave mining. Core Scientific spent $41.9 million in Q2 to terminate a deal covering about 15 exahashes per second of next-generation mining hardware, posting a -56% gross margin on its remaining self-mining business. Keel Infrastructure, formerly Bitfarms, shut mining entirely on June 29 and still surged 194.4%. IREN's AI cloud revenue hit $70.5 million last quarter, overtaking its $66.7 million from Bitcoin mining for the first time, and TeraWulf now draws 71% of quarterly revenue from HPC leases. At least 35 EH/s is scheduled to leave listed miners, about 4.7% of the network's 750 EH/s hashrate.
Bitcoin's rebound to roughly $77,000, with hash price near $38 per petahash per second per day, has pushed most operators back above cash breakeven, which could slow the pivot among flexible operators like Riot, MARA Holdings, HIVE Digital and Bitdeer.
Frequently asked questions
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How much AI revenue are Bitcoin miners actually generating today?
About $1.1 billion annualized, against more than $100 billion in signed AI and HPC contracts. Only around 550 megawatts of the 4+ gigawatts of contracted capacity is currently billing.
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Why are miners with AI contracts valued higher than pure Bitcoin miners?
Miners with contracted AI or HPC capacity trade at an average of 12.9 times enterprise value to next-12-month sales, versus 3.7 times for those without, because their grid-connected power is scarce as US data-center development hits moratoriums and congested interconnection queues.
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What does it cost to convert a Bitcoin mining site into an AI data center?
CoinShares estimates retrofits at $8 million to $15 million per megawatt, versus roughly $700,000 to $1 million for Bitcoin mining infrastructure. AI still yields about $1.5 million in annualized profit per megawatt, roughly triple Bitcoin mining under current conditions.
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Which Bitcoin miners have exited or are exiting mining for AI?
Keel Infrastructure shut all Bitcoin mining on June 29, Core Scientific paid $41.9 million to terminate a mining hardware deal, IREN's AI revenue passed its mining revenue at $70.5 million versus $66.7 million, and TeraWulf draws 71% of quarterly revenue from HPC leases.
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How much Bitcoin hashrate is leaving the network as miners pivot to AI?
At least 35 exahashes per second is scheduled to exit publicly listed miners, equivalent to roughly 4.7% of the Bitcoin network's recent 750 EH/s hashrate, with IREN contributing 23.2 EH/s and Cipher's Odessa site another 11.6 EH/s.
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